PAT
GUADAGNOLive At
The City Lights Saloon(Campbell Music)Rating: NNNN

Calling this a rock album doesn't really do it justice. It's
equally blues, folk, country and pop – every style a
professional bar singer has to pull off to earn a living.
Guadagno is something of a legend on the New Jersey bar
circuit, a grizzled troubadour who calls his brand of music
"saloon songs." Though he's been around for years, this is
his first solo release. In true bar-belter fashion, he
covers his musical bases with everything from Tom Waits and
Bob Dylan covers to Shel Silverstein and David Buskin. What
sets him apart is his refusal to perform the covers in
anything resembling their original style, and his effortless
intuitiveness gives them new meanings.